Categories

Social

The First Snow

December 4th 2016. Let’s preface this by saying that where I come from there’s no snow. No snow on Christmas, most people drive hours to get to Tahoe to get even the smallest amount of it. It’s not anything I’m used to. So I checked the weather maybe sometime mid last week and my eyes lit up. There I saw the little snowflake icon in the iphone weather app. Snow!

My life took a turn this past week full of me getting a nasty viral bug, a pretty bad breakup, and the stress of finals finally taking a toll on me. So to see snow on the weather app, kind of made my day. Yesterday I eventually pulled myself out of the hole of wallow and self pity you generally get in during a breakup and I went outside (and got myself some chinese food). It was still ‘the night before’ but in straight up Lorelai Gilmore fashion, I could taste the snow in the air. I knew this taste before. When I was 12 I attended a science camp up towards Tahoe in California, it snowed in April during our trip. We were all severely under prepared but I remembered that taste. It’s not something you forget.

I fell asleep excited and I woke up just an hour before snowfall today.

Snow is magic.

You know I’m surrounded by natives here who deal with the snow every year and they complain about how wet it is and it makes everything cold. You’re damp for hours afterwards and it’s just a hassle. But for me this snow is something new, it’s fresh, and realizing it now…snow is a reset button.

When I first saw the flakes come down past my window this afternoon a sense of renewal burst through me. I just got through a messy break up and the snow spoke to me. It told me that it’s okay to start again. You get a fresh life when it snows.

I did venture into the snow today, and I took one deep breath and smiled as it came pouring down ontop of me. It soaked my beanie, it made my knees damp, I was finally able to wear those snow boots I bought, and those flakes got very close to my eyes. But I was starting over. I walked, smiling at everyone I saw. I tasted the air, I tasted the actual snow, and I felt good. Some areas of the side walk were slushy, others were firm. There was a beautiful small garden park covered in a white wonderland. I didn’t take a picture because the snow was so heavy out. I paused when I stopped at streetlights and just let the snow fall over me. I let it fall onto the palm of my gloves. It covered my hair, and my purse, and my jacket. But I was okay with it. I started to see this white blanket cover everything and it covered me until I got home. I feel clean. I feel refreshed, and I feel like I can accomplish things. I no longer feel weighted down by my mistakes of 2016.

That’s the story of how I pushed reset on my life while going to buy milk at Trader Joe’s during the snow.